Comeback
by mcplestreet
Summary: One month back she had started noticing girls differently than she had before. Everything about Pansy was incredibly enticing, apart from her personality. Her words hurt most of all. Partly because Hermione's attraction to her was so strong and partly because she was particularly good at being mean. Hermione/Pansy one shot


**Thirty Days of Gays Challenge** by **belle parole**

Hermione/Pansy

haha yikes there might be typos, I really don't feel like proofreading since I'm kind of eager to upload. it's been a minute

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"And look at that _hair_!"

For the past fifteen minutes the voice of Pansy Parkinson had been eating away at her ability to concentrate. A very important potions essay, only one third finished, lay on the table in front of her but she found herself incapable of writing a single word. The words of other students had lost some of their bite a few years back. Years of teasing had thickened Hermione's skin and left her, for the most part, invincible.

But ever since she read _Tipping the Velvet_ one month back she had started noticing people, started noticing girls, differently than she had before. And when she became distracted by a black bra under a white button up or perfectly applied lipstick she gave the girls words more power to hurt her. These feelings didn't seem to have an off switch. She couldn't stop herself from daydreaming things that her church going grandmother would never approve of.

"She must be like another planet or something."

Everything about Pansy was incredibly enticing, apart from her personality. She was attractive in an unconventional way, which they had in common, and manage to transform their uniforms into something from a playboy magazine. It was all to get the attention of the opposite sex and she knew it. But that didn't mean she couldn't appreciate it as well.

Her words hurt most of all. Partly because Hermione's attraction to her was so strong and partly because she was particularly good at being mean. The familiar feeling of tears forming in her eyes became stronger and stronger until she rolled up her parchment and stuffed it into her bag before getting to her feet. She could hear the group of Slytherin girls who occupied the table behind her snickering as she stalked towards the library doors.

Hermione escaped into the second floor bathroom, where she was greeting by a sniffling Myrtle sitting on one of the sinks. "What happened to you?" she asked, her echoey voice bouncing off the walls.

She wiped at her eyes angrily. "You know," she answered, "the usual. What happened to you?"

"A boy came in here before." Myrtle said. "He broke one of the stalls doors and laughed when I cried."

Hermione glanced at the stalls to see exactly what she expected, the door third on the left laying on the ground. "You should teach him a lesson." Hermione said, letting her bag drop to the floor next to her. "That's not very nice of him."

Myrtle looked at her for a few moments then nodded. "You're right." She said, floating into an upright position. "I think I will." She wandered over towards the doors, her jaw set. "Thanks Hermione." She said before disappearing through the wood.

She let out a quiet sigh that sounded much louder in the empty lavatory. In the rotted mirror she looked at her pathetic reflection, limbs hanging limply at her side and face splotchy red. Hermione leaned against the wall and slid down until she was sitting on the floor, pulling her legs up to her chest. She hadn't dared speak a word of the change in her to any of her friends but she had a feeling she couldn't get away with it for long. People were staring to notice something was off about her. Friends pointed out her distraction during class and made note of her less enthusiastic homework. But what was she supposed to say.

The muscles in her body tensed up when she heard footsteps approaching, and even more so when the bathroom door opened. A voice cut sharply through the silence like a knife. "If this isn't the most pathetic thing I've seen all week."

Hermione had to physically restrain herself from rolling her eyes. "What do you want Pansy?" she asked flatly.

"I came to freshen up." She said, coming fully into the room and walking over to the sinks where Myrtle had been sitting minutes before.

"You know nothing in this bathroom works right?"

In the mirror she stood in front of she could see Pansy bite down on her bottom lip. Hermione wished she hadn't seen. "Must have slipped my mind." She leaned on the sink facing her, crossing one of her ankles over one another. "What's wrong, Granger? Did I hurt your feelings?"

This time Hermione did roll her eyes. "Don't give yourself that much credit." She muttered.

"Then why'd you leave the library in such a rush?"

She glared up at her, the smirk on her face making her hear race and her blood boil all at the same time. "I have a lot on my mind." She answered shortly.

Pansy set her messenger bag in the broken sink. "You know, Granger." She said as she faced her once again. "I wouldn't make fun of you if it weren't so easy?"

Hermione let out a humorless laugh. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"You're just such an easy target." Pansy continued, as if she wasn't interrupted. "Your comebacks are lame, if you even bother to come up with one, and you're not exactly a pageant queen."

"What a shame."

Pansy shook her head. "Granger get up." Though she wasn't sure why, Hermione obeyed. She stood, her back close to the wall, and waited for whatever Pansy was going to do next. "Well, go ahead." She said. "Stand up for yourself."

Hermione blinked at her a few times. Was this a trap? Did she have some brain damaged that was influencing her actions? She said the first thing that came to mind. "You're a bitch."

She put a hand on her heart. "Ouch. That one hurt."

"What do you want from me?"

Pansy shrugged, pushing herself off the sink and making her way over to Hermione. "Come on, what's something you've always wanted to say to me? Wanted to do."

Her first instinct was to kiss her. Her second was to slap her. Pansy had ruthlessly teased her ever since she had her sights set on Draco Malfoy and wanted to have something in common with him. That something in common ended up being a distaste for Hermione. The things she said was unforgivable. Yet she couldn't stop her eyes from drifting down towards her lips.

"Do something." She said once she was standing only a few inches away from her.

The thought of actually kissing a girl was terrifying, so instead she brought her hand up and slapped Pansy across the face. The sound was amplified and made her cringe, thinking for a moment that she might have actually hurt her. Though she knew that wasn't true when a smirk spread on her face.

"That's all you got?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes at her before she pushed her back by the shoulders. Pansy stumbled a few steps back but easily recovered. "You're a _bitch_ , Pansy." She said, angrier than before. "You think you're such hot shit, and maybe you are, but you've got a rubbish personality. Maybe that's why Draco is very clearly uninterested in you."

Pansy only smirked more. "You think I'm hot?"

"Shut up." She grumbled, stepping back towards the wall. "Why do you care if I don't stand up to you? Shouldn't that make it easy?"

"It's gotten boring." She said. "I want something a bit more exciting."

Hermione bent down to pick up her bag and set it on her shoulder. "Then find someone else to pick on." She said before turning and heading for the doors.

She was just reaching for the doorknob when she heard Pansy's voice behind her again. "You really think I'm hot?"

Her heart started to hammer in her chest. "Not as much as you do." She said, not daring to look at her.

Behind her Pansy hummed, just loud enough to hear from where she stood. "You're not that bad either." She said after a moment. "Would be better if you showed a bit more skin."

Hermione's stomach exploded into butterflies to abruptly that she thought she might throw up. Pansy was messing with her and she knew it. But it didn't stop her mind from doing a bit of hopeful thinking. Unable to think of a comeback, which they both expected, she pushed open the bathroom door and disappeared into the hall.


End file.
